بخش 31 - معاتبهٔ مصطفی علیه‌السلام با صدیق رضی الله عنه کی ترا وصیت کردم کی به شرکت من بخر تو چرا بهر خود تنها خریدی و عذر او

He (the Prophet) said, “Why, O Siddíq, I told thee to make me the partner in (thy) generosity.”

He replied, “We are two slaves in thy street: I set him free for thy sake.

Keep me as thy slave and loyal friend: I want no freedom, beware (of thinking so)!

For my freedom consists in being thy slave: without thee, tribulation and injustice are (inflicted) on me.

O thou who through being the chosen (Prophet) hast brought the (whole) world to life and hast made the common folk to be the elect, especially me,

In my youth my spirit used to dream that the orb of the sun salaamed to me,

And lifted me up from earth to heaven: by mounting (so) high I had become its fellow-traveller.

I said (to myself), ‘This is an hallucination and absurd: how should absurdity ever become actuality?’

When I beheld thee I beheld myself: blessings on that mirror goodly in its ways!

When I beheld thee, the absurd became actual for me: my spirit was submerged in the Glory.

When I beheld thee, O Spirit of the world, verily love for this (earthly) sun fell from mine eye.

By thee mine eye was endowed with lofty aspiration: it looks not on the (earthly) garden save with contempt.

I sought light: verily I beheld the Light of light. I sought the houri: verily (in thee) I beheld an object of envy to the houri.

I sought a Joseph comely and with limbs (white as) silver: in thee I beheld an assembly of Josephs.

I was (engaged) in searching after Paradise: from every part of thee a Paradise appeared (to me).

In relation to me this is praise and eulogy; in relation to thee this is vituperation and satire,

Like the praise given to God by the simple shepherd in the presence of Moses the Kalím—

‘I will seek out Thy lice, I will give Thee milk, I will stitch Thy shoon and lay them before Thee.’

God accepted his vituperation as an expression of praise: if thou also have mercy, ’twill be no marvel.

Have mercy upon the failure of (our) minds (to comprehend thee), O thou who art beyond (all) understandings and conceptions.”

O lovers, new fortune has arrived from the old World that makes (all things) new,

From the World that is seeking a remedy for them that have no remedy: hundreds of thousands of wonders of the (present) world are (contained) in it.

Rejoice, O people, since the relief has come; be glad, O people: the distress is removed.

A Sun went into the hut of the new-moon, making urgent demands and saying, “Refresh us, O Bilál!

From fear of the foe thou wert wont to speak under thy breath: (now), to his confusion, go up into the minaret and speak (aloud).”

The announcer of glad news is shouting in the ear of every sorrowful one, “Arise, O unlucky man, and take the road to fortune.

O thou that art in this prison and amidst this stench and these lice, beware lest any one hear! Thou hast escaped (from prison): be silent!”

How shouldst thou keep silence now, O my beloved, when a drummer has appeared from the root of every hair (in thy body)?

The jealous foe has become so deaf (that) he says, “Where is the sound of all these drums?”

The fresh sweet basil is touching his face, (but) in his blindness he says, “What is this annoyance?”

The houri is nipping his hand and drawing (him towards her): the blind man is distraught and says, “Wherefore is he (some one) hurting me?

What is this (painful sense of) having my hand and body pulled hither and thither? I am asleep, let me sleep awhile.”

He whom thou seekest in thy slumbers, this is He! Open thine eye, (thou wilt see) ’tis that auspicious Moon.

Tribulations were (laid) more (heavily) upon (His) dear ones because the Beloved showed more coquettishness towards the beauteous (lovers).

He sports with the beauteous ones in every path; sometimes, too, he throws the blind into frenzy.

For a moment He gives Himself to the blind, so that a great uproar arises from the street of the blind.